Sometimes people write hyperbolic titles for blog posts. It happens. We don’t support it. And this may appear to be an exaggerated title.

How can it be possible that a business can DOUBLE their Google reviews in 90 days? That seems absurd! It seems exaggerated and ridiculous.

It isn’t.

Most businesses that use Kenect see their reviews double (or more) in the first 90 days of using Kenect. That’s no joke.

This blog post will explain the precise template these businesses use to do this. And it’ll provide clear steps that you can use to replicate it at your business.

The Mistake Most Companies Make When Asking for Reviews

Before we dive into the action items and the ‘how’ of the blog post, we want to discuss the biggest mistakes companies make when asking for reviews.

- Not Asking – The biggest—and yet most common—mistake that many SMBs make with Google reviews is not asking for them at all. They have no process for consistently asking and/or they don’t ask at all. This is a big mistake.

You didn’t get into your business to get reviews. That’s not why you do what you do. BUT, it has become among the most important things that allow you to do what you do.

Most companies simply don’t ask for reviews.

- Asking Via Email – The second most common mistake businesses make with Google reviews is asking via email. To be clear, it’s better than nothing… but not by much. Our research indicates that 1% to 2% of people who are asked to leave a review via email, will actually leave a review.

It’s simple math. Only about 10% of emails are opened. Only about 20% of emails that are opened get clicked. And only about 30% to 50% of people who click actually end up leaving the review.

It’s not efficient or good. And yet, that’s the way basically ALL businesses collect reviews.

- No Process – Even businesses that are asking for reviews often don’t have a buttoned-up process for consistently getting them. It’s sporadic and chaotic.

The Process To Double Your Reviews in 90 Days

1) Have a Process – This doesn’t need to be overly complex. You don’t need to write a 12-page manual about review gathering that every employee needs to follow with militaristic precision. Rather, you just need to answer 3 basic questions in your review process:

a. Who do you ask? – Do you ask everyone or just those people that like you. I’d strongly suggest asking just those people that like you. If you ask everyone, you’re going to occasionally be asking for negative reviews. You have no moral or legal obligation to ask everyone. Just ask those that like you.

b. When do you ask? – This is up to every business. But define WHEN in the process of buying your product/service that you should ask for a review.

c. How do you ask? – Do you email, ask in person, text? How do you ask? We’re biased but we believe texting is the single best way to get Google reviews. Email has response rates that are in the 1% to 2% range. Texting has response rates that range between 35% to 55%.

2) Determine an Owner – Make sure someone is in charge of gathering reviews. You MUST put someone in charge of gathering reviews at your business. This is vital. You can have the best process in the world. You can have texting. You can have happy customers 100% of the time. And yet NONE of it matters if someone isn’t in charge.

The person that is in charge of getting reviews is likely different at every business. For a law firm, it could be a receptionist, a marketing person, or a partner. OR, the attorneys may be in charge of gathering reviews for their own cases.

It doesn’t matter! Just put someone in charge of getting reviews. Set goals with them about how many reviews they need to generate each month. And then, if they get that number of reviews, pay them a meaningful bonus.

3) Text – You’ve got to text to get reviews. It works 35x better than any other review gathering method. You can look at our review gathering product to see how to gather reviews with Kenect.

Conclusion

This isn’t rocket science, but it does take effort… consistent effort. But if you follow these steps, you can literally double your Google reviews in the next 90 days.

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